Lexie Corner
Staff Writer
With high tension between the Alexandrians and Rick’s crew due to last week’s brutal bloodfest that left Aiden (Daniel Bonjour) and Noah (Tyler James Williams) eaten alive, “The Walking Dead”’s intensity heightened even more as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) fails to conform to Alexandria’s rules and protocol.
Most of Rick’s group is having a difficult time “breathing” inside the steel walls of Alexandria. For the first time since the prison in season three, all of them don’t have to continually be on watch for walkers. Instead, they can bake. They can have dinner parties. They can relax, but many of them cannot.
Sasha cannot sit and mingle with the Alexandrians, so instead she ventures out into the wilderness to exterminate walkers. Michonne and Rosita (Christian Serratos) soon find out that she’s been missing for some time and track her down. After a flock of walkers emerges from behind the tree line, all three kill them all off, but now without a flash of raw rage bursting from Sasha at Michonne for killing a walker that was inches from biting her face. Sasha continues to yell that Michonne doesn’t understand what she’s been through, not knowing that Michonne has, in actuality, lost a child, a brother and close friend.
However, during the entire slaughter of the walkers, Michonne had flashbacks of her with her katana and even when she first met Andrea (Laurie Holden). Despite their differences, both of these women seem to have an enjoyment in slicing walkers. Maybe it’s a release or a way of not becoming fragile as the Alexandrians have become, but Michonne can relate to the itch that Sasha is incessantly scratching at.
Although Rick has often been designated as the leader of the group, he may not be one for much longer. He learns that Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) knows about Jessie’s (Alexandra Breckenridge) abusive husband, Pete (Corey Brill), and that she truly believes in Jesse’s promises that it’ll get better. Struggling with Deanna’s complete lack of conviction and, in some cases, common sense, Rick decides to deal with Pete on his own since the most Deanna will do to troublemakers is exile them. He confronts Jesse, telling her that all she has to say is “Yes” and then Pete will never hit her again. Though hesitant, she says the magic word. To no surprise, Pete enters the room and screams at Rick to leave. Rick stands his ground but is only met with a curled fist in the face.
Chaos ensues. Rick throws Pete out of a window. Pete chokes Rick. Rick strangles Pete, nearly to death, and the entire town gathers around to witness their bloodied faces. Despite Jessie and Carl (Chandler Riggs) trying to intervene, Rick lets go of Pete’s neck after he seems to pass out. With adrenaline coursing through his hot veins, Rick asks Deanna what she’s going to do while he laughs almost maniacally at them. To him, they are utterly fragile creatures living in a vicious world. If they do not realize the errors of their unintelligible ways, they will all die. With a face masked in red and his familiar revolver in hand, he declares that the only way to live in this world is to fight, and that’s what he’s going to do. In the middle of this monologue, Michonne slams him in the face to shut him up.
Rick’s fate remains undetermined at this point, but there is a burning question that has grown brighter with every episode; what do the marked walkers mean? Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron (Ross Marquand), while out recruiting, have found numerous bodies that have been ripped apart, gutted and brutally dismembered, all with a W carved into their decomposing skulls.
Hopefully, next week’s 90-minute season finale will show what potential threat lies around the corner.
Next week’s episode:
